[ZS] TGIF... This week in Dev and Community 23/11/2012

TGI(B)F! I hope anyone participating in Black Friday shenanigans today made it home safe and (with a) sound (system) .

Last week was another involved week around here, so let's take a look and what went on!

Proposed Changes!

A few weeks ago we announced a few changes in the works in hopes of garnering some awesome feedback from awesome players (that's you!)

Proposed Feature: Faction Wars

Proposed Change: Consumables (Destructives)

We've had quite a bit of helpful feedback so far, but there's still time to have your voice heard. To read about the proposed changes and participate in the discussion, click here or here!

Player Bans Nov 10 - Nov 16

As a reminder, the following numbers are permanently frozen accounts, and don't count temporary freezes.

FB: 7
MS: 0

As always, we are committed to keeping our games fun and fair for everyone, and will continue to ensure that players are playing fairly and within our Terms of Use by swinging the banhammer where it needs to be swung.

If you have any questions or comments about a frozen account, please direct them through Support as the Forums are not the place to discuss account freezes, because of the sensitive account information involved.

New limited items!

A new week means new limited items!



In the spirit of Black Friday, we've decided to have our own crazy sale! Available today only, these Limited Quantity items are Hot! Hot! HOT!



I formally apologize if they're already sold out when you read this, but, as there's a possibility that they aren't, go get yours now!

Facebook Offsite Game Policy Change

Facebook snnounced a change to their policy regarding offsite versions of games on Facebook that will take effect December 5th, 2012. You can read more about it here.

Running out of steam in the Battle Arena

A few weeks ago, an exploit was uncovered in the Battle Arena because of player activity, which we remedied through a couple of fixes and a throttling feature introduced earlier on last week.

The throttling feature is designed to prevent players from abusing exploits within the Battle Arena by limiting the number of actions a player can make over a given amount of time. Through testing and player feedback, we have tried to make these limits extremely difficult to hit normally while maintaining their ability to prevent exploitation of the feature.

If you have run into the throttling feature in the arena without using an exploit or similar violation of our Terms of Use, please send a message in to Support to let us know.

Community-Proposed Battle Arena Tweaks

We ran into an issue in a recent Viking Clan Battle Arena that caused some of the rankings to be slightly messed up. The players in that arena have all received the appropriate rewards, and we have now fixed the glitch that caused this issue.

We have also added a community-proposed change that should help prevent similar issues in the future. From now on, a player must have logged 100 attacks or more in order to collect a reward for an arena ranking. This change will also encourage gameplay in the arena, and reward participation.

Negativity around Moderators

The past few weeks I've noticed quite a bit of negativity being directed at our forum moderators for moderating the forums. While I can understand not always agreeing with moderation decisions, I would like to remind everyone that our Moderators are Community Volunteers who volunteer their time to ensure that the forums are a place players can have positive discussions and interactions. Without Moderators, our forums would be overrun with spammers and trolls and would be nothing but adult enhancement ads and flame-wars.

It's also important to remember that our Moderators are also players, and do have opinions like any other player. While we do ask that they be as respectful as any other player, we don't censor them and we do allow and encourage them to post their own thoughts and opinions.

That being said, we also recognize that our Moderators are people, and can occasionally make mistakes. As always, if you believe a post was moderated inappropriately, please read the forum Code of Conduct and let me know by either sending me a message in the forums or by emailing me at community@kanoapps.com. Please do not post complaints about Moderators on the forums, as it doesn't accomplish anything. If you genuinely believe a Moderator has done something wrong, contacting me is the most effective way to remedy the situation.

The past few weeks have also made me realize that we need better transparency regarding Moderator policies, which is something I will be working on in the next few weeks. We are also looking to grow the Moderator team, so if you're interested in helping out in the community, let me know!

Support Report

Hey everyone! Due to the database issues over the last weekend Monday was a bit of a crazy day in Support and I ended up having to send out a batch of rather impersonal info emails to get caught up, but response times should be back to normal now.

A number of people contacted us when they were working on their Challenges and got error messages, but fortunately everyone's actions seem to have been logged and rewarded correctly.

Fun fact: Monthly Calendars disappear when they are completed, so if you can't find it on your Challenge page it's probably because you finished it! Each one has a unique Clear Bonus item, so just check your inventory for the item if you're worried about your missing Calendar and want to check that you got your rewards.

Have a great weekend, and a happy Turkymas to all our American players!

-Melanie

Joke of the week!

Joke of the week time! The following is from a friend of mine who also happens to be a teacher. I personally wish my teachers had jokes this awesome.
Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, "You stay here, I'll go on a head." Highlight for hilarious joke! Click here for the appropriate sound effect.

In case any of you were wondering, Xavier Rudd was fantastic live, although the concert ended up going almost 4 hours long. He's a one-man band and end up doing a set that was over two hours long! It was crazy!

Anyways, I hope you all have a safe and fantastic weekend.


Play Now!

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Facebook Connect: http://bit.ly/zs_forum_fc

MySpace: http://mysp.ac/zs_ms_forum

 

Negativity around Moderators

I find it quite amusing that a moderator can moderate a topic in which they're not even participating in. For instance, relentless is a level 4XX on FB and is not even involved in BA in the FB version of the game, and couldn't possibly understand the complexity of the situation, compared to what it is on MS (and even then, only in the game 290 days on MS...not exactly someone I would rely on to know the game). I play on both sites, and know that there is a stark difference in game play. Also, a moderator being given Carte Blanche rights to delete posts and the subsequent followups is not what a moderator is meant to do. So, anyone should be able to see why the reactions are what they are. If you have someone moderating that people actually respect in the game, that has a more mature attitude about how to handle conflict, then I don't see the problem arising as they have. Calling people cheaters (when all we're doing is playing the game straight up) is not what I would call a community builder. Moderators can have opinions, but exposing their juvenile side while performing the function is ridiculous. It's the reason why there's negativity around moderators. It's not just a one way street.

Also, the mention of more transparency is great, but following through on it is essential to ensuring forum success. All too often we see the promise of action, but we rarely get the result. I'm looking forward to it.

-- DragTheWaters (Don)

 

LOL @Drag Look at when i joined this Forum? Join Date 06-20-2010. I don't owe you any kind of explanation but seeing as though you clearly have no clue of what your talking about, here goes.. I started out playing on FB, was on there for about 6months and made it to about level 550, i then quit and went to the Hi5 network and played for a year getting to level 915 before HI5 got rid of all 3rd party games. I then went to MS where i am currently level 976. Because i had the #1 kills on Hi5 and MS i wanted to see if could get it on FB as well so i had Kano ban my old FB ZS account so i could go back to FB and start again. I believe i was playing for a while before i found this Forum, but even so, i have been on this Forum for 2+ years.

I find it ironic that you are coming into the Forum and bring into question my knowledge of Zombie Slayer and how that is reflected in my moderating duties. I don't come into the Forum and have a good old bitch about other players and i don't do that because
how i play my game and how i Mod, are very different. There's lots of players i would love to come to the Forum and tell exactly what i think of them but personal opinions of other players have no place on the Forum. Your personal opinion of Moderators has no place on the Forum! Dan has said a ridiculous amount of times now that if you have an issue with a Mod, send him a PM.

You're what almost level 3k on FB now? I don't really know you in game, i don't care who you are or what your about. I'm like level 400 on FB and the only reason i log in there is to kill my fight list. Now a while back you declared in the chat box one day how the only reason you log in is to make me broke... I had done nothing to you at all yet i seem to have attracted your full attention. Seems we have a very different opinion on what is classed as maturity.

I can see you have misunderstood a post i made in another thread and just to clarify that post.. I wasn't calling you a cheat, i was saying that because people cheat in these games, that is why Kano have to take steps to change how things work to try and stop people from being able to cheat, and that it is always the legitimate players who suffer because of it.

The thing that bothers me most about all the pissing an moaning that comes from ZS players is that if they could look past their personal opinion of myself as a player, if they could just look past how i played on FB that first time, they would see that i am here to help. I have played ZS for well over 2 years now, i have had 5 accounts over 4 networks. I have spent money on every account i have played, granted not as much as some of you, but i have no problem in dropping some cash to help fund a game i enjoy playing, yet here you are complaining about me. When there is a good thread going on in the ZS section and the Dev's are watching it's progress and then a few stupid idiots go into it and start dribbling crap and myself or another Mod has to go into it and start editing post or deleting them and then people come back and start going off because of that, i can tell you now it is not something i find fun to do. In game drama has no place on the Forum, if the only reason you are making a post is to stir the pot then save a Mod some abuse and don't post it. It's not hard people, it's really now. I am not saying i have a made a mistake, but a simple PM to ask about a thread isn't that hard to do, but i know, it is so much more fun when you can post out on the Forum and make drama.

I am sure everything i have said has fallen on deaf ears and i don't know anything anyway, (right Don?) so there's no point in saying anymore. I will just point out that i have made this post as Lana, the person who is a player of Zombie Slayer and is also a Mod on this Forum.

 

You are always allowed to voice your opinion on the Forum as long as you are following Kano's rules, not just what you deem to be acceptable. If you have an issue with how i have Moderated your posts, message Wonderbread about it. If i am doing something wrong, he would pull me up on it.

 

this is a thing I proposed in forum like some time ago good to see you guys implemented it. I believe it is a good thing. Only if you hear my voice also on adding achievements
but good work anyway. There is much more work to do on the game, I hate several things on it and I think there was a lot of good ideas from community here on forum that you could apply to the game and you didnt yet - but still, dont get sick of all the bit*hing here on the forum. There always will be some people who will dislike what you do and will post it to the forum. Important is that much more people enjoy the game even if they dont post thankfull threads on the forum.

 

just fix ba were b happy again....

 

and no offences lana u at one point was the person calling people cheats ect,u need to understand people r not happy. and if theres no name calling ect closing threads is on called 4...ive seen a few post deleted and closed, i as a player feel like they shouldn't have been. i know for a fact i have posted n the pass talking mad trash and most r still here just saying we both know how nasty it can become....so maybe letting the players vent and rant alittle without deleting and or closing threads, something could get fixed the right way.....


and kano all u need to do is listen do what we want and just mayb ur work load wont b so bad...

 

As Moderators, we do not go looking for threads to close, delete or edit, we come as players, the same as we did before we became Mods, if we happen across something that violates the forum rules as listed by Kano we will take care of it, we don't see them all, if you see one that one of us has missed , feel free to message one of us or Dan and someone can take a look, we are players , who volunteer our time, and we also have a life and jobs, need time to play our own games and different time zone schedules , so those that feel so strongly about mods, should take the time to become one, and walk the walk . We are here to help Kano and the players, the fact that we have to monitor some people more than others , well that is human nature since some feel RDA( rules don't apply) here, there and everywhere.

 

I definitely don't just log in to make you broke...eating BT's was doing that (if you had real experience in the game, you'd know the difference). But it had nothing to do with only logging in to do that. The reason I was on you, was because you were beating on people that were half your range, and I want to give you a taste of your own medicine...

You're missing the point about what I was saying to begin with. The moderators have only caused more grief here. One reason is because no one respects their game or thinks that they have enough experience in game to even know what they're talking about. The second is, when they do delete a thread or modify it, it's only because of their own opinion...no one is reporting other threads, and yet they're disappearing or being overly sanitized, while people are trying to respond to them. The Terms of Service or Code of Conduct haven't been abused. It's only being deleted because you don't like the topic being discussed or you would rather see the topic in a different part of the forum. Just let things happen organically, and everything will be fine. We're not saying that we're going to cause physical violence or talking about hacking an account, we're just venting...and now we can't even say that the game stinks with the changes that have been made without the thread being deleted or modified. It's unfortunate that this is what it's come to. People used to use the forum to have fun and poke each other...but now it's the most boring place to be and we can't even have a real discussion without it being overly sanitized.

To Linda's point...we don't go looking for threads to delete... I disagree. I've seen so many threads get removed lately, and for what? Nothing. no harm is coming to anyone because we want to post the same thing again...and yet, the thread gets deleted. There's not a reason to drop the thread, except that the moderator doesn't like the topic being discussed again. Last I checked, no one but Kano is getting paid to do this, so why would anyone else be in charge of making that kind of judgment? Or, why would they even care? If you're all volunteering, it should be to volunteer to make suggestions to Kano, not to act as world police. Otherwise, no one will use this...and there's value here. Just not the way it's being used now.

-- DragTheWaters (Don)

 

I wasn't listing people half my range, i listed one person who wouldn't stop attacking and punching me and the rest of their faction started listing me, so i started listing back those i could. You thought you'd come in and throw your level around and show everyone how you'd stop someone from playing there game by trying to make me broke, mean while i got sent a heap of friend request from people saying you had crosses a line and yada yada ya. I find it a bit hard to believe that you seen a level 400 list someone half their level and you deemed that so unfair that you started chain listing that level 400 a good 80 times and dying on even more booby traps in the process. I must have missed the memo on FB that says nothing happens on there happens without your say so. Those who know me know exactly how i would respond to that kind of action. What you did is the reason so many people get to a point where they stop bothering to play these games. Just because you can list someone none stop, doesn't mean you are right to do so and i feel bad for other lower levels who can't hunt so they can at least make some effort at defending themselves and try to continue playing their game AND enjoy doing so.

Just pointing out as well, this kind of post is what i mean when i say ingame drama has no place on the Forum

Your missing the point about the Moderators. You only notice what the Mods do, when it goes against what you want. Just like when people say Mods have opinions, it has been proven many times now that Mods are only allowed to have an opinion when it's agreeable with the whoever.

Every time there are threads that get heated, Mods let the Developers know about them because we feel they are a priority in what the players want and is something that should be looked over when they have the time. What you deem to be acceptable, can be very different to what Kano deem acceptable. A lot of times posts get deleted or a thread is closed and i wasn't even online at the time, but i am the one you all come into the Forum ranting about, not biased at all are you?!

When there are 5 different threads going on the same issue, it takes away from the issue. Having all problems about one issue posted in the same thread saves time for everyone. It means that one thread can be brought to the attention of a Developer and they can see all issues that have been discussed in that thread and give replies. There have been many times when wild horses couldn't drag me into a thread because as a player, i am in agreement and i don't want to have to Mod a thread, but even if i stay away, another Mod or a Developer will go in there and and edit where it's needed. Your all your own worst enemies. The rules on the Forum are not hard to follow. Keep ingame drama in game and be respectful to others, that covers most of them. If your post goes missing, send a message to a Mod and ask why, if the reply you get given isn't something you feel is fair, then go to wonderbread about it because naturally if you title a thread Mods Suck A**, you going to grab the attention of every Mod online and the Developers as well and it's gonna go walk about as it should.

@Luke, what your talking about was a very long time ago and well before i because a Mod. The fact that we are both here and both still playing our games, says all it needs to to the haters.

 

This isn't about game drama at all...moderators are deleting posts just because they think it shouldn't exist, even when it doesn't violate any code of conduct. Stop doing that, and the problem goes away. And, who said that there can't be any posts about what's going on in the game? Again, it's your opinion. Nothing in the FAQ describes anything that says we can't talk about things going on in the game, even if it's just personal between two people... So what if you don't like it...that's the whole point. We don't want to have someone just making flippant decisions about what they find important or not. It's BS that anyone is deleting a post that says something like, "the game isn't working right, again...and it's the same as last time" Just because you don't like seeing it over and over, doesn't mean the message should be removed. Please, show me in the FAQ, Terms of Service or the Code of Conduct where we can't post that the game stinks...and provide perfectly valid reasoning for assessing the game this way. It doesn't exist. And yet, multiple posts have been deleted along the way, all recently. It's over-moderation and a power trip. So what if there are some extra topics on the forum and it's not perfectly clean and aligned with your way of thinking. We want to have a voice in how to fix the game, and we can't talk about it, when the posts keep getting deleted.

-- DragTheWaters (Don)

 

Kano do not want players coming onto the Forum bringing their ingame drama with then. I mean the fact that you think we walk around the Forum deleting things just because we just don't like them, is plain stupid and shows you have no idea what Kano have set as their rules and guide lines and this is the reason Dan is reworking it all to give everyone a better understanding, Mods included!

You can post about game issues on the Forum but not PvP issues. That is something that is to be send into Support.
That is not a rule i made, that is how Kano run their Forum. So when a player make things personal about another player, Mods/Dev steps in and edits such posts to try and keep a thread on topic so it doesn't get out of control.

I have posted a few time now that Kano want feedback from their players as long as it is done respectfully. If you come into the Forum and start saying F this and F that and F you to, you can not tell me you really expect a post like that to be left alone. If a Mod can't edit out the parts that need to be and leave the post so it is still making sense, then yes they will delete it.

I am not saying that every time a post gets changed it is done rightfully so, but i simple PM asking why your post was changed is going to get you a lot better of a result then starting one thread after another with the purpose of being abusive and unnconstructive.

From Dan's Code of Conduct post.

 

To Linda's point...we don't go looking for threads to delete... I disagree. I've seen so many threads get removed lately, and for what? Nothing. no harm is coming to anyone because we want to post the same thing again...and yet, the thread gets deleted. There's not a reason to drop the thread, except that the moderator doesn't like the topic being discussed again. Last I checked, no one but Kano is getting paid to do this, so why would anyone else be in charge of making that kind of judgment? Or, why would they even care? If you're all volunteering, it should be to volunteer to make suggestions to Kano, not to act as world police. Otherwise, no one will use this...and there's value here. Just not the way it's being used now.

-- DragTheWaters (Don)



Yes there is a reason to either close a thread or move a thread on the same subject because that is what Kano asks us to do, we the Mods are here for many reasons to help Kano so they do not have to do these things so they can work on the games , with new features or with problems that come up like server crashes and the like , while we try help guide players with issues or questions about the games to the write avenue, Kano can see anything I may delete, close, edit and my reasons for it, I usually even show them the places I have made any changes or any threads that need their attention, another one of the things we do to help kano, and it will be up to Dan or kano to tell me if I made mistake in doing so, sometimes when things are so out of control I just tell Dan about a thread and he will come and clean it up since am not touching it with a ten foot pole. Names , trolling, links, in game drama accusations will be deleted, edited closed to the best of my ability. In a perfect world people would not need to be policed, but this is not a perfect world.

 

The fact that we're even having this discussion tells me that it's not going well... and it either it changes, or we just quit using the forum, which isn't the purpose of a forum. Nothing that you posted, Relentless, is even close to being on the list for what you've deleted... get over yourself. Using the rules to make up reasons to delete threads doesn't mean that you or anyone else is moderating in a way that builds community. And when people reference Dan, and he's NEVER on here defending anyone's actions, it just means it's being ignored and no one really cares about it. So, you can't use that as the grandstand from where you shout out how correct your actions are.

When any of you do some real introspection, let me know when you want to apologize to the community that you're ruining. As of now, I'm not returning.... so long.

-- DragTheWaters (Don)

 

And here i was thinking it was nice to be able to talk things out in a clam respective matter.

If you think i will lose sleep over you not returning to the Forum you're mistaken and that's not me trying to be disrespectful to you but you were on this Forum before the the current Mod team was put together and in all that time you've made 28 posts. I guess it easy for you to sit there and blame others instead of actually participating and trying to improve things yourself.

Until Kano tell me otherwise, i will continue to come to this Forum and help Kano and players in anyway i can.

 

if we are always allowed to voice our opinions, why do you ALWAYS delete mine???? i see that my previous reply to this post mentioning that fact was already deleted, that only proves my point you know!!

 

@ Jim, Opinions about the game, game issues ideas, features , things of that nature are welcome here in the forum, not personal feelings towards one another or name calling or personal insults. If you have an issue with a player about something said or done in the forum, please write to support, thank you and have a nice day

 

Closing this thread and will show Dan when he gets in tomorrow and Let Kano resolve this and correct any accusations and falsehoods mentioned , Thread is now closed, have a great evening and enjoy your game.